Search continues for dangerous sex offender

Deschutes County law enforcement agencies continued the search Thursday for a high-risk sex offender who fled supervision.

Justin Lampke is a Level 3 sex offender on lifelong post-prison supervision.

“We would consider him dangerous, yes,” said Deschutes County Parole and Probation Deputy Director Tanner Wark.

Authorities initially alerted the public Wednesday after Lampke did not return to his Bend home on Tuesday night. Now, Wark said he could have taken off as early as Sunday.

This is a familiar scenario. Lampke violated the terms of his supervision last April, when he cut off his ankle monitor, left the area and was found and arrested days later in Seattle.

This time, he was not wearing a GPS bracelet.

“Generally speaking, when people start doing well, we’ll take that off, because he’s on for lifetime supervision,” Wark said. “So that’s a long time to be on the bracelet. The bracelet is just one of the tools we use on the supervision plan.”

The supervision plan can also include regular office visits, curfews and community monitoring.

Even though this is Lampke’s second violation in less than a year, Wark said there’s only so much that can be done.

“We only have so many sanction units that we can use at a given time,” he said. “So, for example, last time we only had so much time we could incarcerate. There is, for some individuals, an Oregon administrative rule that allows for a return to prison, but they have to meet a certain criteria. As an agency we always look at that with our high-risk guys.”

Wark said he could not comment on whether the agency will request to send Lampke back to prison after he’s found this time.